Ferrari F40 LM Michelotto

The Ferrari F40 was never supposed to race. It was built in 1987 to celebrate Ferrari’s 40th anniversary — the last car Enzo Ferrari personally approved before his death in August 1988. It was designed by Nicola Materazzi with styling by Pininfarina, powered by a twin-turbocharged 2.9-litre V8 producing 478 horsepower, and built with a carbon fibre and Kevlar body on a steel tubular chassis. Ferrari produced 1,311 units. The original price was $400,000. It was the first production car to exceed 200 mph.

Daniel Marin, managing director of Charles Pozzi SA — Ferrari’s official French importer — changed that. Marin convinced Ferrari to sanction a racing version. The work was entrusted to Giuliano Michelotto and Michelotto Automobili in Padua, a firm that had previously built the Ferrari 512 BB LM, the 308 GTB rally cars, and contributed to the 288 GTO Evoluzione. Michelotto started with standard F40 road cars and converted them. The LM designation stood for Le Mans, though ironically the F40 LM never raced there.

The modifications were comprehensive. The Tipo F120 B engine received larger IHI turbochargers running up to 2.35 bar of boost, revised camshafts, larger Behr intercoolers, and a modified fuel management system. In IMSA specification, the engine produced 720 horsepower. In European GTC specification, it reached 760 — and in qualifying trim, Michelotto quoted up to 850. The bodywork was revised with a front splitter, enlarged NACA ducts for brake cooling, underbody venturi, and an adjustable rear wing controllable from the cockpit. Weight dropped to approximately 1,050 kg. At the Nardo Speed Bowl in February 1989, test driver Dario Benuzzi recorded 229 mph.

The Ferrari F40 LM made its competitive debut at Laguna Seca in October 1989 in the IMSA GTO series, driven by Jean Alesi — who would join Ferrari’s Formula One team the following year. In 1990, Ferrari France entered two F40 LMs in selected IMSA races with drivers including Jean-Pierre Jabouille, Jacques Laffite, and Hurley Haywood, taking multiple podium finishes. The car later won the 4 Hours of Vallelunga in 1994 and the 4 Hours of Anderstorp in 1995. The F40 LM competed until the McLaren F1 GTR made it obsolete in the mid-1990s.

Michelotto built a total of nineteen F40 LMs. Many never raced — they went directly into private collections. Values have risen dramatically. In 2013, one sold at Gooding & Company in Monterey for $2.09 million. In 2015, another reached $3.3 million at RM Sotheby’s. The GTC-specification cars, of which only four were built, are the most powerful and most sought after. One is in the Ferrari Museum in Maranello.

This photograph captures the Ferrari F40 LM at close range, isolating the front of the car — the low splitter, the fixed headlights, the NACA ducts cut into the bodywork. These are the details that separate the LM from the 1,311 road cars it was built on. On aluminium, the red gains a depth and saturation that mirrors the material reality of the car itself — a body made of carbon fibre and Kevlar, printed on a panel made of metal.